With just a few months to go before Italy unveils its new national airline, the Italian carrier Alitalia said it would collaborate with FedEx on international package delivery. The collaboration comes months after the European Commission asked the Italian government to explain why it was selling Alitalia but didn’t strike a partnership with an established carrier. European regulators ruled last month that selling Alitalia to CDP, the state-controlled fund, was illegal, because the payment to CDP was illegal and the government wasn’t selling Alitalia for the best possible price.
Alitalia’s new partners will be able to book baggage and other transportation on the new airline.
The government-run airline said that together, the companies would get more than $10 billion a year in bookings across the 17 markets in which FedEx and Alitalia are present, according to the new carrier. This includes the USA, Germany, the UK, China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Australia, the Middle East, and Africa.
The new airline, which will be called AirItalia, will offer domestic services in Italy and also fly to business destinations such as London and Newark. Italy, too, will be the main destination in Europe.
AirItalia will be the largest carrier in Italy with 3.6 million seats a year, the largest in the European market with 100 million passengers, and nearly six times the capacity of all its competitors combined, the new carrier said. The carrier also will seek to increase its operating profit from one percent of annual revenue now to 15 percent.
